Woman arrested for leaving body of newborn baby in coin lockers for 4-5 years

Police in Tokyo said Tuesday they have arrested a 49-year-old woman on suspicion of abandoning a body after she left the corpse of her newborn baby in coin lockers for 4-5 years.

According to police, the woman, Emiri Suzaki, turned herself in at a police station in Arakawa Ward at around 11 a.m. on Monday and said she had left her baby's remains in a locker near JR Uguisudani Station in Taito Ward on Sept 13, Fuji TV reported. Police went to the locker and found the infant’s remains in a plastic bag inside a tote bag.

Suzaki, who has no fixed address or employment, told police she had given birth to the baby in a hotel room four or five years ago. She said the baby was stillborn, and she panicked because she didn't know what to do with it, so she placed the infant's body in various lockers at the station for the past few years. She would go back to the lockers every few days and put coins in.

Police said the gender of the baby is unknown.

Suzaki told police she was evicted from the place where she had been staying and forgot to take the locker key with her, so she decided to tell police what she had done before someone else found the key.

Sep. 25, 2018
06:48 pm JST

No sympathy for this woman - if she was worried about the health of her new born she would have called an ambulance, she's 49 not 18 at this age she would have known what to do, she only confessed because she it was only a matter of time before the police caught up with her, it also wouldn't surprise me that another reason she confessed because was or was about to become homeless.

Sep. 25, 2018
08:29 pm JST

Sep. 25, 2018
08:59 pm JST

Jail her for what? Is there a charge yet?

Did you read the article?

Police in Tokyo said Tuesday they have arrested a 49-year-old woman on suspicion of abandoning a body....

Which is a catch all kind of charge, often used in suspicious deaths, by the police, to hold a suspect. It is illegal here in Japan to abandon a body. By itself, depending upon the case, not enough to actually receive jail time, but allows the police to take their time in building a case against a suspect.

Sep. 26, 2018
06:26 am JST

You may have read it, but that still does not mean you understood it. I just answered your question, which was, and I quote here.....

Jail her for what? Is there a charge yet?

Since the body of the child was not interred properly, and not reported to the proper authorities, in a timely manner, she was charged with abandoning the body. Like I said, it's a common charge, even when people leave their dead family member to mummify in their house for years, they get charged with the SAME charge of abandoning the body.

Sep. 26, 2018
06:49 am JST

It's illegal in most jurisdictions to abandon a body. For those of you who think keeping a body in a coin locker, fridge, etc. is not "abandoning" it, you may want to research the legal definition. It typically means failure to appropriately dispose of a body.

That said, I was relieved to discover that this woman was unemployed. That is always my first concern when I hear a crime was committed. My second being the age of the suspect. Those are two very important facts that have absolutely no relevance to anything.

Sep. 26, 2018
07:06 am JST

That said, I was relieved to discover that this woman was unemployed. That is always my first concern when I hear a crime was committed. My second being the age of the suspect. Those are two very important facts that have absolutely no relevance to anything.

Sep. 26, 2018
07:27 am JST

The usage of 'abandon' when the person still has possession of the body sounds incorrect in English. This charge in Japanese is 死体遺棄 (したいいき shitai-iki, corpse-abandon), and in Japanese law it refers to the abandonment of responsibility in regards to a body. There are more appropriate words in English, however this does appear to be the translation that the government uses, so it's appropriate that JT also uses this term. While it sounds strange in English, any trials will be done in Japanese, and the charge makes sense in Japanese.

Sep. 26, 2018
08:10 am JST

I don't understand why some parents didn't support thier children of how to give advice at least a parental guidance of how to raise and keeping thier child in good hand and love. Or ask help if they were in trouble ？

Sep. 26, 2018
08:22 am JST

I don't understand why some parents didn't support thier children of how to give advice at least a parental guidance of how to raise and keeping thier child in good hand and love. Or ask help if they were in trouble ？

At 40 plus years old, I think that she has passed the age of needing to be treated as a child.

Sep. 26, 2018
08:43 am JST

I don't understand why some parents didn't support thier children of how to give advice at least a parental guidance of how to raise and keeping thier child in good hand and love

Not everybody is raised in a good family. And even if everyone was raised in a good family with good morals there's still would be crime and not the best choices because not everybody get the same chances, treatment and experiences in life. So no matter how much love you give to your child now, 30 years later that child could be a serial killer.

Sep. 27, 2018
08:03 am JST

"So no matter how much love you give to your child now, 30 years later that child could be a serial killer"

Well it depends on what kind of love you are giving. If it's something just "extravagant" or "material " of course it will not guarantee your child to be a better human being.

The best bond that any parents can do to their child is hugging or embracing it will bring positive effects to a child and a chemical called oxytocin is released during when a person feels loved and connected. It has been shown to help parents bond with their children, adding a sense of trust and support between them.

Of course teaching them humility and supporting them in any kind of way will always makes a difference.